[FC-discuss] World Free Culture Forum and Awards Festival, October 2009

[FreeCulture.org - Students for Free Culture]

Writes ben on our blog:

![header-bg-sm1][1]

Later this year Barcelona plays host to the world's first [Free Culture
Forum][2]. Over four days (October 29—November 1st), activists and
researchers will convene to define an action agenda for Free Culture
issues in the next decade.

This conference will follow the [2009 OXCARS][3], an alternative awards
ceremony for Free Culture artists.

This is an opportunity to discuss, dance and work together. It's also a
chance to celebrate global perspectives about knowledge, culture and
creativity that may differ than those promoted by media and
entertainment conglomerates.

The Spanish state is quickly becoming a hotbed of activism, scholarship
and research around Free Culture issues, making it a great place to
launch a world Free Culture forum. But Spain's national politics make
the Forum an even more ripe opportunity for progress on Free Culture
issues:

> _**Why Barcelona?** In January 2010, Spanish State will take up the
European Presidency of the European Union. Spanish Government has
already announced that one of their flagships will be reinforcing the
control of the Internet and criminalizing the sharing culture in the
digital environment. The consequences of those decisions will be noticed
in the rest of the world. Furthermore, within this context, Barcelona is
closing agreements with cultural institutions to set new agreements to
get a fairer sharing of copyrights. These agreements will be spread to
other institutions in Catalonia and Spanish State._

>

> _In October 29th this year Barcelona will hold the [Second Edition of
the Oxcars Festival][3], an international event to honor the defense of
culture and to show that other creation channels, as good and with as
much quality as traditional ones, exist. The last edition was a success
with more than 2000 participants
. Several worldwide voices have
recognized the necessity to create international spaces for networking,
coordination and building of a global frame for free culture and
knowledge issues: the [Free Culture Forum][2] of Barcelona aims to
create such a space._

The organizers have secured the participation of a number of great FC
voices and they're announcing more by the day. Plus, the OXCARS awards
will be a guaranteed blast. Many universities provide funding for
members of student groups to attend conferences. Check with your
department, student union, special activities, or financial aid office
to see if they can fund or subsidize your trip. The SFC board and the
organizers of the FCForum will happily provide letters of recommendation
and other resources.

Students for Free Culture is a partner in the [World FCForum][2], but
it's not the follow-up to SFC's [Free Culture 2008][4] conference in
Berkeley—it's a brand-new international gathering. We'll be announcing
details about our next SFC conference, [Free Culture 2010][5], in the
coming weeks.


** Conference schedule: **

October 29th: Celebration of the Oxcars Free Culture Awards Festival.

October 30th: Panel presentations

October 31th: Working groups (Legal, Education, Economic, Free Software,
Political)

November 1st: Plenary meeting to draft common agenda

**

More information **

Website: [http://fcforum.net/][6]

Newsletter: 
[http://openfsm.net/projects/freecultureforum/lists/freecul
tureforumbcn][7]

Organization contact: info |at| fcforum.net


**OXCARS 2008: The Movie**

[oXcars, The Movie][8] from [eXgae][9] on [Vimeo][10].

   [1]: http://freeculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/header-bg-
sm1.png (header-bg-sm1)

   [2]: http://fcforum.net/


   [3]: http://exgae.net/exgae-multiply-and-share-forth/theoxcars

   [4]: http://conference.freeculture.org

   [5]: http://wiki.freeculture.org/FC2010_Conference

   [6]: http://fcforum.net/

   [7]:
http://openfsm.net/projects/freecultureforum/lists/freecultureforumbcn

   [8]: http://vimeo.com/4043345

   [9]: http://vimeo.com/user1441193

   [10]: http://vimeo.com

URL: http://freeculture.org/blog/2009/08/14/world-free-culture-forum-and-awards-festival-october-2009/